Iowa Targeted by National Popular Vote Movement

A bipartisan group that wants to restructure the presidential elections process by awarding state electoral votes based on who wins the national popular vote is now targeting Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register.

National Popular Vote will run TV ads in the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids areas comparing the current Electoral College system with a corrupt class election and bingo game, where the winners are stripped of their prizes. Entrepreneur and philanthropist Tom Golisano, a registered Republican who considers himself a political independent, is the group’s chairman in Iowa.

“Under the Electoral College system for president, the real winner doesn’t always win,” a narrator explains in the ads.

The bipartisan group is also running a third ad that criticizes GOP presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry for opposing changes to the current system.

“Tell Rick Perry that people matter more than politicians,” the ad says. “Support the national popular vote initiative.”

The group has managed to get bills passed in nine states so far where the electoral votes — based on the size of each state’s congressional delegation — add up to 132.

That’s about 49 percent of the 270 electoral votes needed to activate the new election system. Supporters say the new system would force candidates to campaign in states that might otherwise be ignored because they have too few electoral votes.

A national popular vote bill has also been introduced in Iowa, which has only seven electoral votes.

But the state is being targeted because it draws attention early on in presidential races with its first in the nation caucus that helps winnow out the field of candidates.

A bipartisan group that wants to restructure the presidential elections process by awarding state electoral votes based on who wins the national popular vote is now targeting Iowa, according to the Des Moines Register. National Popular Vote will run TV ads in the Des Moines...